1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic door operating device for opening and closing a door in accordance with a switch operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there is provided an automatic door operating device for opening and closing a door by means of a drive source such as an electric motor, in accordance with a switch operation. The conventional automatic door operating device has a function of stopping the door from a pivotal movement (open and close), by turning off the electric motor. In this case, the above stop function is triggered by pressing an operation button disposed on a vehicular body or by pulling a handle mounted on the door, during the time the door is in the process of being driven for the pivotal movement by means of the electric motor.
However, the above conventional automatic door operating device has only the function described sequentially as follows:
1. When the door is in the process of being driven for the pivotal movement, the operation button is operated (pressed or pulled) so as to stop the door from the pivotal movement.
2. The electric motor is turned off.
3. The thus turned off electric motor stops the door from the pivotal movement.
Therefore, with the door thus stopped, there remains a transmission system (for transmitting a drive force for the pivotal movement) intervening between the door and the electric motor. The above summarizes that, when the door is thus stopped, the door cannot be manually operated (opened or closed) due to the transmission system.
For solving the problem of the above conventional automatic door operating device, there is proposed another type of automatic door operating device. This another type of automatic door operating device has a clutch gear intervening in the transmission system for the pivotal movement of the door. For achieving the manual operation of the door, the clutch gear is turned off. This another type of automatic door operating device uses the following two types of switches for the pivotal movement of the door, and for turning off the clutch gear: One is a switch disposed in the vicinity of a driver. The other is a keyless switch remotely operable from a position away from the vehicular body (In other words, the keyless switch is operable from a position remote from the door.).
The following two operations are stationed in completely different positions from each other. One is a switch operation of turning off the clutch gear for allowing the manual operation by stopping the door which is in the process of being driven for the pivotal movement. The other is the manual operation of manually opening and closing the door that has been stopped from the pivotal movement. The above complete difference in position makes it impossible to carry out the above two operations continuously, in other words, to allow the door to quickly become manually operable (open and close) soon after the door has been stopped from the pivotal movement.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a convenient automatic door operating device which quickly becomes, when necessary, manually operable (open and close) soon after the door has been stopped from a pivotal movement (open and close) by means of a drive source.
According to the present invention, there is provided an automatic door operating device for driving a door for a pivotal movement in accordance with a switch operation. The automatic door operating device comprises a handle disposed on the door; and a controller. The controller allows the door to be manually operable for the pivotal movement when the handle is operated during a time the door is in a process of being driven for the pivotal movement.
The other objects and features of the present invention will become understood from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings.